Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Kelly, Edward" to "Kite" by Various
1885. Kilmarnock rose into importance in the 17th century by its
1918 words | Chapter 27
production of striped woollen "Kilmarnock cowls" and broad blue bonnets,
and afterwards acquired a great name for its Brussels, Turkey and
Scottish carpets. Tweeds, blankets, shawls, tartans, lace curtains,
cottons and winceys are also produced. The boot and shoe trade is
prosperous, and there are extensive engineering and hydraulic machinery
works. But the iron industry is prominent, the town being situated in
the midst of a rich mineral region. Here, too, are the workshops of the
Glasgow & South-Western railway company. Kilmarnock is famous for its
dairy produce, and every October holds the largest cheese-show in
Scotland. The neighbourhood abounds in freestone and coal. The burgh,
which is governed by a provost and council, unites with Dumbarton, Port
Glasgow, Renfrew and Rutherglen in returning one member to parliament.
Alexander Smith, the poet (1830-1867), whose father was a lace-pattern
designer, and Sir James Shaw (1764-1843), lord mayor of London in 1806,
to whom a statue was erected in the town in 1848, were natives of
Kilmarnock. It dates from the 15th century, and in 1591 was made a burgh
of barony under the Boyds, the ruling house of the district. The last
Boyd who bore the title of Lord Kilmarnock was beheaded on Tower Hill,
London, in 1746, for his share in the Jacobite rising. The first edition
of Robert Burns's poems was published here in 1786.
KILMAURS, a town in the Cunningham division of Ayrshire, Scotland, on
the Carmel, 21½ m. S. by W. of Glasgow by the Glasgow & South-Western
railway. Pop. (1901), 1803. Once noted for its cutlery, the chief
industries now are shoe and bonnet factories, and there are iron and
coal mines in the neighbourhood. The parish church dates from 1170, and
was dedicated either to the Virgin or to a Scottish saint of the 9th
century called Maure. It was enlarged in 1403 and in great part rebuilt
in 1888. Adjoining it is the burial-place of the earls of Glencairn, the
leading personages in the district during several centuries, some of
whom bore the style of Lord Kilmaurs. Their family name was Cunningham,
adopted probably from the manor which they acquired in the 12th century.
The town was made a burgh of barony in 1527 by the earl of that date.
Burns's patron, the thirteenth earl, on whose death the poet wrote his
touching "Lament," sold the Kllmaurs estate in 1786 to the marchioness
of Titchfield.
KILN (O.E. _cylene_, from the Lat. _culina_, a kitchen, cooking-stove),
a place for burning, baking or drying. Kilns may be divided into two
classes--those in which the materials come into actual contact with the
flames, and those in which the furnace is beneath or surrounding the
oven. Lime-kilns are of the first class, and brick-kilns, pottery-kilns,
&c., of the second, which also includes places for merely drying
materials, such as hop-kilns, usually called "oasts" or "oast-houses."
KILPATRICK, NEW, or EAST, also called BEARSDEN, a town of
Dumbartonshire, Scotland, 5½ m. N.W. of Glasgow by road, with a station
on the North British railway company's branch line from Glasgow to
Milngavie. Pop. (1901), 2705. The town is largely inhabited by business
men from Glasgow. The public buildings include the Shaw convalescent
home, Buchanan, Retreat, house of refuge for girls, library, and St
Peter's College, a fine structure, presented to the Roman Catholic
Church in 1892 by the archbishop of Glasgow. There is some coal-mining,
and lime is manufactured. Remains of the Wall of Antoninus are close to
the town. At Garscube and Garscadden, both within 1½ m. of New
Kilpatrick, are extensive iron-works, and at the former place coal is
mined and stone quarried.
KILPATRICK, OLD, a town of Dumbartonshire, Scotland, on the right bank
of the Clyde, 10½ m. N.W. of Glasgow by rail, with stations on the North
British and Caledonian railways. Pop. (1901), 1533. It is traditionally
the birthplace of St Patrick, whose father is said to have acted there
as a Roman magistrate. Roman remains occur in the district, and the Wall
of Antoninus ran through the parish. To the north, occupying an area of
about 6 m. from east to west and 5 m. from north to south run the
Kilpatrick Hills, of which the highest points are Duncomb and Fynloch
Hill (each 1313 ft.).
KILRUSH, a seaport and watering-place of county Clare, Ireland, in the
west parliamentary division, on the north shore of the Shannon estuary
45 m. below Limerick. Pop. of urban district (1901), 4179. It is the
terminus of a branch of the West Clare railway. The only seaport of
importance in the county, it has a considerable export trade in peat
fuel, extensive fisheries, and flagstone quarries; while general fairs,
horse fairs and annual agricultural shows are held. The inner harbour
admits only small vessels, but there is a good pier a mile south of the
town. Off the harbour lies Scattery Island (_Inis Cathaigh_), where St
Senan (d. 544) founded a monastery. There are the remains of his oratory
and house and of seven rude churches or chapels, together with a round
tower and a holy well still in repute. The island also received the
epithet of Holy, and was a favourite burial-ground until modern times.
KILSYTH, a police burgh of Stirlingshire, Scotland, on the Kelvin, 13 m.
N.N.E. of Glasgow by the North British railway, and close to the Forth
and Clyde canal. Pop. (1901), 7292. The principal buildings are the town
and public halls, and the academy. The chief industries are coal-mining
and iron-works; there are also manufactures of paper and cotton, besides
quarrying of whinstone and sandstone. There are considerable remains of
the Wall of Antoninus south of the town, and to the north the ruins of
the old castle. Kilsyth dates from the middle of the 17th century and
became a burgh of barony in 1826. It was the scene of Montrose's defeat
of the Covenanters on the 15th of August 1645. The town was the centre
of remarkable religious revivals in 1742-3 and 1839, the latter
conducted by William Chalmers Burns (1815-1868), the missionary to
China.
KILT, properly the short loose skirt or petticoat, reaching to the knees
and usually made of tartan, forming part of the dress of a Scottish
Highlander (see COSTUME). The word means that which is "girded or tucked
up," and is apparently of Scandinavian origin, cf. Danish _kilte_, to
tuck up. The early kilt was not a separate garment but was merely the
lower part of the plaid, in which the Highlander wrapped himself,
hanging down in folds below the belt.
KILWA (Quiloa), a seaport of German East Africa, about 200 m. S. of
Zanzibar. There are two Kilwas, one on the mainland--Kilwa Kivinje; the
other, the ancient city, on an island--Kilwa Kisiwani. Kilwa Kivinje, on
the northern side of Kilwa Bay, is regularly laid out, the houses in the
European quarter being large and substantial. The government house and
barracks are fortified and are surrounded by fine public gardens. The
adjacent country is fertile and thickly populated, and the trade of the
port is considerable. Much of it is in the hands of Banyans. Kilwa is a
starting-point for caravans to Lake Nyasa. Pop. about 5000. Most of the
inhabitants are Swahili.
Kilwa Kisiwani, 18 m. to the south of the modern town, possesses a deep
harbour sheltered from all winds by projecting coral reefs. The island
on which it is built is separated from the mainland by a shallow and
narrow channel. The ruins of the city include massive walls and
bastions, remains of a palace and of two large mosques, of which the
domed roofs are in fair preservation, besides several Arab forts. The
new quarter contains a customs house and a few Arab buildings. Pop.
about 600. On the island of Songa Manara, at the southern end of Kilwa
Bay, hidden in dense vegetation, are the ruins of another city, unknown
to history. Fragments of palaces and mosques in carved limestone exist,
and on the beach are the remains of a lighthouse. Chinese coins and
pieces of porcelain have been found on the sea-shore, washed up from the
reefs.
The sultanate of Kilwa is reputed to have been founded about A.D. 975
by Ali ibn Hasan, a Persian prince from Shiraz, upon the site of the
ancient Greek colony of Rhapta. The new state, at first confined to
the town of Kilwa, extended its influence along the coast from
Zanzibar to Sofala, and the city came to be regarded as the capital of
the Zenj "empire" (see ZANZIBAR: "Sultanate"). An Arab chronicle gives
a list of over forty sovereigns who reigned at Kilwa in a period of
five hundred years (cf. A. M. H. J. Stokvis, _Manuel d'histoire_,
Leiden, 1888, i. 558). Pedro Alvares Cabral, the Portuguese navigator,
was the first European to visit it. His fleet, on its way to India,
anchored in Kilwa Bay in 1500. Kilwa was then a large and wealthy
city, possessing, it is stated, three hundred mosques. In 1502 Kilwa
submitted to Vasco da Gama, but the sultan neglecting to pay the
tribute imposed upon him, the city in 1505 was occupied by the
Portuguese. They built a fort there; the first erected by them on the
east coast of Africa. Fighting ensued between the Arabs and the
Portuguese, the city was destroyed; and in 1512 the Portuguese, whose
ranks had been decimated by fever, temporarily abandoned the place.
Subsequently Kilwa became one of the chief centres of the slave trade.
Towards the end of the 17th century it fell under the dominion of the
imams of Muscat, and on the separation in 1856 of their Arabian and
African possessions became subject to the sultan of Zanzibar. With the
rest of the southern part of the sultan's continental dominions Kilwa
was acquired by Germany in 1890 (see AFRICA, § 5; and GERMAN EAST
AFRICA).
KILWARDBY, ROBERT (d. 1279), archbishop of Canterbury and cardinal,
studied at the university of Paris, where he soon became famous as a
teacher of grammar and logic. Afterwards joining the order of St Dominic
and turning his attention to theology, he was chosen provincial prior of
his order in England in 1261, and in October 1272 Pope Gregory X.
terminated a dispute over the vacant archbishopric of Canterbury by
appointing Kilwardby. Although the new archbishop crowned Edward I. and
his queen Eleanor in August 1274, he took little part in business of
state, but was energetic in discharging the spiritual duties of his
office. He was charitable to the poor, and showed liberality to the
Dominicans. In 1278 Pope Nicholas III. made him cardinal-bishop of Porto
and Santa Rufina; he resigned his archbishopric and left England,
carrying with him the registers and other valuable property belonging to
the see of Canterbury. He died in Italy on the 11th of September 1279.
Kilwardby was the first member of a mendicant order to attain a high
position in the English Church. Among his numerous writings, which
became very popular among students, are _De ortu scientiarum_, _De
tempore_, _De Universali_, and some commentaries on Aristotle.
See N. Trevet, _Annales sex regum Angliae_, edited by T. Hog (London,
1845); W. F. Hook, _Lives of the Archbishops of Canterbury_, vol. iii.
(London, 1860-1876); J. Quétif and J. Échard, _Scriptores ordinis
Predicatorum_ (Paris, 1719-1721).
KILWINNING, a municipal and police burgh of Ayrshire, Scotland, on the
right bank of the Garnock, 24 m. S.W. of Glasgow by the Caledonian
railway, and 26¾ m. by the Glasgow & South-Western railway. Pop. (1901),
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